D.C. Wire: June 8, 2008 - June 14, 2008

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty released this statement after learning that journalist and moderator of "Meet the Press" Tim Russert was dead of a heart attack at age 58. "On behalf of the residents of the District of Columbia, I want to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Tim...

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor beat power outages and Washington traffic yesterday to give a speech at the National Press Club that chastised Washington politicians, advocating a less divisive American political scene. O'Connor arrived at the Press Club five minutes after power was restored to the building, narrowly...

(David Nakamura - TWP) School officials and construction workers took to the shade in today's 90-degree heat as Mayor Fenty held a news conference to announce the kick off of the summer "buff and scrub" program. About 35 schools will get cosmetic makeovers this summer in the program, in...

With gas prices soaring, Mayor Fenty has traded in his fuel-guzzling sport utility vehicle for an efficient Smart Car convertible, as WTOP reported He drove it to his news conference at an elementary school in Northeast this morning, where he was mobbed by the media. In fact, his announcement...

Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) is hosting a meeting in the Trinidad community tonight to begin, he says, "the healing process" after a wave of violence in the Northeast neighborhood. That violence yielded a controversial police checkpoint program in which officers stopped motorists trying to access one street...

A forum on the achievement gap, organized by State Superintendent of Education Deborah A. Gist at Bell Multicultural High School last night, marched earnestly through all the familiar research that surrounds the issue of African American and Latino 17-year-olds who read and do math, on average, at the level of...

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and education officials marked the first anniversary of his takeover of the city's beleaguered public schools today by listing a series of improvements, mainly in business functions and school facilities, and outlined their goal of improving student achievement in Year 2. School system officials acknowledge...

Updated: As it turns out, Saturday's scheduled conversation with Council Member Mary M. Cheh at the Firehook Bakery is one of Cheh's occassional conversations shes hosts with constituents. (The D.C. Wire had incorrectly gave the impression that The Coalition to Repair and Reopen Klingle Road was holding the event.) It...

Kris Baumann, head of the D.C. Fraternal Order of Police, today criticized the D.C. police department's controversial checkpoints in Trinidad. Baumann said he was pleased that police officials reported no gunshots or murders in the violence-plagued neighborhood over the weekend, but he added that the heavy publicity surrounding the checkpoints...

The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute has posted a statement this morning signed by 26 economists who contend that public subsidies for a soccer stadium for D.C. United will do little to spur development. The letter is similar to one signed by more than 100 economists during the debate over the...

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty was making moves yesterday, shifting positions and people like pieces on a chess board. Erik Moses was named the new chief executive of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission. Moses had been the director of the Department of Small and Local Business Development. Fenty tapped Nicole...

Council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large), who has been the sole representative of the GOP on the council since 2004, announced her re-election bid today. Backed by the local Republican Committee, Schwartz will seek a fifth term as a council member. "Councilmember Schwartz has a strong record and long history...

A hearing on the D.C. police department's recent initiatives to root out crime - Safe Homes, Video Interoperability for Public Safety and Neighborhood Safety Zones - will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the John A. Wilson Building. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) , chairman of the Committee...

A year after he lost his job as D.C. school superintendent when Mayor Adrian M. Fenty won control of the system, Clifford B. Janey apparently is getting closer to becoming school chief in Newark. According to the Star-Ledger, Janey will be offered the job. Valerie Merritt, spokeswoman for the Newark...